Popcorn package



March 30, 1954 B w, CQLMAN 2,673,805

' POPCORN PACKAGE Filed March 2, 1953 INVENTOR. BENJAMIN W COL/WANATTOENL'Y Patented Mar. 30, 1954 GEFIQE POPCORN PACKAGE Benjamin W.Colman, Berkley, Mich., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Top-PopProducts Company, Detroit, Mich.,

Michigan a corporation of Application March 2, 1953, Serial No. 339,765

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to a popcorn package, and more particularly to acompact package in which unpopped corn and a frying fat are stored forcooking therein, said package being expand" able under the pressure ofthe expanding popped corn.

One of the principal objections that most people have to home popping ofcorn, used commonly as a confection, is the greasy mess of pans thatmust be cleaned up after cooking. The inventive construction heredescribed provides a compact package containing unpopped corn and afrying fat, which can be purchased in a store, taken home and placeddirectly upon a heating stove. The heat will pop the corn, and thepackage which was relatively small in volume, as manufactured and sold,will expand to several times its original volume to contain the greatlyexpanded volume of popped corn. In addition, the package is preferablymade of aluminum foil which is comparatively inexpensive. An importantelement in this invention is the combination of two difierent gages ofaluminum foil, enabling the package to expand greatly in volume.

One object of the invention is the provision of a compact popcornpackage which contains unpopped corn and a frying fat and which is usedas a popcorn cooker without modification.

Another object is to provide a compact small volume popcorn packagewhich is used as a popcorn cooker and which will increase in cubiccontent as the corn pops and expands.

A further object is the provision of a compact popcorn cooker packagemade of aluminum foil, in which the lower cup portion is made of arelatively heavy gage of hard rolled, substantially non-expandablealuminum foil, and the upper cover portion of which is made of arelatively light gage of soft annealed aluminum foil which is veryeasily caused to move and expand under beating and pressure by thepopped corn.

Another object is the provision of a compact popcorn package that issimply constructed, inexpensive to produce and easy to use. In compactform, the popcorn package provides a nesting feature so that many can becombined within a relatively small space.

Additional objects of the invention will become apparent from thefollowing description.

Referring now to the drawing annexed hereto and forming an integral partof this specification,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the compacted popcorn package of thisinvention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view similar to Fig. 2 showing the poppedcorn therein and the relative changes in the package configuration andvolume.

As shown in Fig. l, a compact popcorn package it is composed of a lowercooking cup-shaped vessel 12, a vessel cover [4, a quantity of unpoppedcorn It and a suitable measure of frying fat l8.

The lower cooking cup-shaped vessel 52 is preferably formed as shown,with a substantially semi spherical bowl 20 having a flat bottom portion22, and a peripheral flange portion 24 at the top. The vessel l2 shouldbe made of a heavy gage hard rolled aluminum foil, preferably .005"thick or more. Since the cooking heat is applied directly to thisportion of the popcorn package it is important that it have substantialthickness to carry and hold the heat without melting, in addition to theneed to resist deformation during ordinary handling operations. Ifdesired, steel or tin plate may be used for the vessel 42. Many testshave shown that aluminum foil of .005 thickness and heavier issatisfactory for this portion of the package.

An extremely light gage of soft annealed aluminum foil is used for thevessel cover it. It has been found that a thickness of .00035" or lessis satisfactory. The configuration of the cover I4 is substantially thesame as for vessel 12, and generally of the same dimensions. Thesemi-spherical cover bowl portion 26 having a peripheral flange 28 isarranged to cover corn l6 and frying fat it which are placed in thebottom of vessel bowl 20.

Cover flange 28 on the peripheral edge of cover bowl portion 26 isplaced over a portion of vessel bowl flange 24 and it is held in placeby bowl flange portion 36 which is bent over and pressed down upon intoa simple lap seam 32 as shown. A rounded seam having a tubular section(not shown) may also be employed.

In order that the package be suitable for storage on a store shelf andfor transportation to and from the store with a minimum of handlingdifficulties, it is preferred to use a frying fat it that issubstantially solid at normal room and store temperatures, summer andwinter. By use of such a fat, the package ill may be inadvertently orintentionally overturned without having liquid fat run out of thepackage, inasmuch as the lap seam 32 of the vessel and cover is not aliquid seal. A frying fat that meets these requirements is coconut oilprepared with other ingredients and having a melting point ofapproximately IDS-125 Fahrenheit, and is substantially solid up to thatrange.

Ordinary popping corn I6, as presently available, is suitable for use inthis package I0. There may however be similar foods which expand greatlyupon cooking in a frying fat that may also be combined as is the poppingcorn; and it is to be understood that such packaged foods are includedin the contemplation of this invention.

In operation, the vessel I2 is first formed as described and shown, andcorn I6 and fat I8 are placed together in the bottom portion 22 of bowl20. Cover I4 is placed over the ingredients with cover bowl portion 26arranged in contact with the corn and fat, and against the sides ofvessel bowl 20. Cover flange 28 is disposed over vessel flange portion24 and lap seam 32 is formed by pressing vessel flange portion 30 overcover flange 28.

Upon application of heat to the bottom portion of bowl 20, the fat I8will melt and upon reaching a suitable frying temperature, about 350390Fahrenheit, the corn I'E will pop and expand. As the corn I6 pops, itbreaks open with a cracking sound and beats against the cover bowlportion 25. Because of its light gage and the fact that it is made of asoft annealed metal, cover bowl portion 25 is expanded from itsdepressed concave form of Fig. l-to the convex shape shown in Fig. 3.Theiorce and expansion of the 7?.

popped corn Isa simply pushes the cover bowl portion 26 upwardly, untilit is substantially filled with popped com I So.

The quantityof corn I6 which will be quite satisfactory for package 10is approximately 1 ounce .per 62 cubic inches of expanded package.Frying fat I8 sufiicient to cover the corn I5 is a suitable measure. Thecorn I6 may, of course, pop larger or smaller, and these dimensionalspecifications for weight and volume are fairly approximate only. Anamount of corn substantially in excess of that indicated, or a volume offat substantially less than described, may result in considerableburning of the corn. The following package specifications have beenfound suitable and satisfactory. For 1 ounce of pop- .ping corn andounce of frying fat, a vessel bowl 20 and cover bowl portion 26 formedinto 5" diameter semi-spheres will provide an excellent package Ill. Thepackage Ill, of course, may be arranged in 'forms other than spherical,or semi-spherical.

After the corn I6 hasbeenfpopped, the package I0 is removed 'from'theheating stove, and

vessel cover I4 is torn open. A knife or fork will be satisfactory toperform this operation, as the very light gage aluminum foil composingcover I4 is easily rent by a sharp instrument. By inverting the packageI0, the popped corn I'Sa is emptied into a suitable serving bowl orother container. Package I 0 can then be discarded, and the cleaning ofgreasy pots or pans has been completely eliminated.

Whenthe lap seam 32 is tightly made, the metal cover I4 and vessel I2will tend to confine the gases generated by the cooking process. Inorder to relieve some of the gas pressure developed in the expanding andexpanded package I0, it is recommended that a small hole be punched inthe cover, substantially central of its diameter. to serve as a reliefvalve. Rolled seams as well as other suitable manners and means ofconjoining the cover I4 and vessel I2 at their peripheral edges is, ofcourse, within the contemplation of the invention.

It is to be understood that the details of the foregoing specificationmay be changed and varied in greater or lesser degree without departingfrom the essence of my invention.

I claim:

A package of popcorn in which the same is prepared for consumptionconsisting of a metallic vessel, an expansible, inflatable metalliccover for said vessel conjoined thereto at their peripheral edges, andpopcorn and a frying fat contained in said vessel under said cover, saidcover being arranged concavely in said vessel over said popcorn and fat,said cover adapted to expandibly inflate upon popping of said popcornand to form an enlarged expanded enclosure in a convex form with saidvessel for said popped corn, and said cover consisting of a quantity ofmaterial sufficient to form upon inflation an enclosure with said vesselseveral times the initial volume contained between said vessel and saidcover.

BENJAMIN W. COLMAN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 2,480,679 Spencer Aug. 30, 1949 2,495,435 Welch Jan. 2 1, 19502,501,400 Marshall Mar. 21, 1950 2,648,610 Martin Aug. 11, 1953 OTHERREFERENCES Food Engineering, November 1951, page 156.

